Curlers for Daisy

So I bought my wife curlers so she and her sister can have... curls. duh! In the fun of curling each others' hair, they decided to add two small curlers to Daisy! Yeah she got curls now. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of her with after the curls came off. However, it was quite funny seeing her wanting to get curlers on after she saw my wife and sister putting curlers on their hair. Daisy just wanted to be "part of the pack" LOL silly Daisy!




... and just for fun, here is Daisy with a custom made hairband on. This hair band was made from my sister (acutally sister in law but I just call her sister), and fits Daisy well. Although it was originally made for the wife LOL.

Golden Retriever - Fetch

So, today I have two topics I want to share with you. First, as many of you know, Daisy and I enjoy playing fetch very much. We take about 5-10 minutes outside just playing fast-paced fetch. During the summer, we like to go to the dog beach located on the causeway between Somer's Point and Longport. The dog beach is literally located where the bridge going into Ocean City starts. It's a great place to take any dog during the summer. There is ample parking there just made for the dog beach. There are many dogs (unleashed if trained well) such as my Daisy and won't run off to other areas. Although there are a handful of dogs that aren't trained as well and will run off else where but they don't go far where their owners won't find their dog. The other place we go to sometime is in Egg Harbor Township, NJ to a park called Canal Park. We'll take some picnic sandwiches with us and enjoy the vast lush grass area and play fetch.

For the winter, we only play in the back yard. Its so cold!!!! However, yesterday's weather was great and we spent some good time outside. I tried to take pictures with my iphone of Daisy returning with her frisbee. I couldn't take pictures of her catching it beucase it just seemed way too far away. The timing to catch a photo in the sunlight was a bit challenging too as you can see below. I don't want to get her in the shadow beucause I wasn't sure how well the photo would turn out.

Here is my first attempt with just catching her back, butt and fluffy tail.

Second attempt, a bit better. A bit blurry. A bit in the shadow... But showing good energy!

Nice photo for attempt #3. She is vibrantly running in the sun!

Attempt #4. Daisy looks a bit tired, but she isn't

Attempt #5, came sprinting back. haha

Golden Retriever Ribbons

This week, my sister made a ribbon for Daisy. My sister enjoys crafts from stitching, ribbon making, etc. Daisy liked the ribbon very much surprisingly. I think she knows when she looks pretty. When she put the ribbon on, we all complimented her on how pretty she looked.
As you can see, Daisy is happily smiling in the picture above. Usually she doesn't like hats and other headwear but we were very delighted to see she liked the ribbon. Horray for custom made golden retriever ribbons!!!

Golden Retriever Drawings to come... soon

I recently did some doodling of cows. WOW how cool would it be for me to do some sketches of Golden Retriever drawings? That would be awesome so I think in the near future, I'm also going to start posting my sketches of golden retriever drawings and illustrations. At times, I doodle facial profiles of Daisy, my golden retriever, when I'm on the phone. However, those damn post-its just disappear...

Golden Retriever - Hello Kitty

The last week of December 2008, my family and I went to Mitsuwa up in northern NJ to go shopping. At the bookstore there, we got my mom a knitting book that teaches how to make many cute bags, coasters, etc mixed in with Hello Kitty designs.

The first several projects she did was creating coasters and then she started spanning off into bags and other things. Needless to say we already have made 2-3 trips to A.C. Moore for more yarn. My mom made a mat for Daisy's doggie bowl but instead, since it was square, we decided to fold it and wrap it around Daisy's neck. Ahhh, she looked so cute! I love my golden retriever! So with the new mat that became a scarf, she's got her own little Hello Kitty scarf that goes around her neck.

New President & New Golden Retriever Groups

Today is the day for our new President Obama. Congratulations Mr. President! We're all looking forward for the great changes to come!!! (^_^)

On another note, about a little over a month ago, I finally broke down and got myself a facebook account. Since then I've been working on it from time to time, spending only a few minutes a week on it. Recently, I found out about the different groups of social networking that I can join that share the same interests that I do.

I joined two new ones called:

I'm a Proud owner of a Golden Retriever!

and

I ♥ My Golden Retriever!

So far, I have not found anything out of the ordinary. Just a bunch of other golden retriever lovers like myself and some fantastic stories. Its quite amazing reading how much the golden retriever owners' lives have changes since they got their pups and dogs into their lives. If any of you out there also have facebook and looking to find a couple great golden retriever groups in facebook, I would recommend these two groups.

Dog Food & Snacks

There is no right or wrong dog food. I spent a lot of my waking hour the first year trying to find the "Right" dog food and apparently there isn't any. Infact, a friend of mine once told me, "In the past, before humans came into dogs' lives, dogs used to eat almost anything and everything just like other animals that try to survive in the wilderness." Now, that's not saying let's give our dog doses of our sinful delicious chocolates. I won't do that. However, I did go and find something that my dog liked that I did not see bad as well. The one thing my wife and I looked out for when finding the right dog food was chicken or any kind of animal by-products. Dog food such as Science Diet and other major dog foods have animal by-products in it.

What are animal by products?

These are the things other than the meaty muscle tissue. This in reality is a deadly mixture of contaminated animal heads, toenails, bones, pus, intestines, chicken feathers, stomachs, hair and lungs.

http://www.ahimsarescuefoundation.org/glossary_ingredients.htm

So, when my wife and I looked through the many products Pet's mart sells, the store rep suggested us one kind of dog food that didn't have animal by products and is healthy for pets. Unfortunatly, I don't remember the name of the dog food but Daisy wasn't a big fan of the flavor. We eventually found a dog food called Farm Stand Selects which has no animal by products in it and has real dried vegetables as well.

We also at times mix real vegetables in with her food, such as dicing up tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, as well as sometime mixing in rice. Don't misunderstand. I don't give her all these at the same time; we're not creating a salad bar for her. Just a couple times a week we give her one of the vegetables mixed with her food as well as sometime even adding in a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil (said to keep a dog's coat shiny).



I remember the night we first got Daisy into our lives, she had no appetite. We were given a puppy dog food from the breeder which Daisy wasn't in the mood to eat. I think the overall shock at the time was too great so my wife, who's had dogs all her life, decide to make a hard boiled egg and crush a quarter of it with rice and her dog food. The good smell and flavor got Daisy to eat her food. Ever since then, hard boiled eggs (we only give her egg whites) and rice have become one of her favorite mixes with her food.

As for snacks, Daisy, like most dogs love milk bones. On top of that, she also loves fresh vegetables (tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, lettuce, cabbage, etc), ice cubes and fruits. Although we don't give her much fruits, I personally don't think it's too good for her. Especially since grapes don't digest in dogs stomach.

Daisy doesn't beg for food. Infact, when we eat meals at the table, she never begs for food at all. We trained her well but when we open the freezer, she always comes to us hoping to get an ice cube.

I as well as other readers would like to hear your comments on what kind of dog food and snacks you give your dog. Feel free to comment and share your thoughts :)

Happy New year

Well, its time to start working on my blog. 2007 and 2008 was a rough year for all of us and so much stress had taken a toll on many of us here in the states. Although we try to keep a happy positive attitude here at home, Daisy still knows and understands the hardships that my family and I went went through.

I decided to slow down on my NJ website company which I had been doing for the past 5 years and now I'm working for a company utilizing my skills as a graphic and website designer. With the steady flow of income, we're hoping to get back on our feet and start spending better quality time with Daisy.

On New Year, I spent my time at Resorts Hotel Casino with my family. We brought home one of the party favors that Resorts was giving out (head piece) and decorated it onto Daisy. She's not crazy about having ribbons, hats, etc on her so this didn't stay on her long. She'd much rather be running outdoor cutting through the wind... but at night, she spends her time indoor. Here is a photo of her trying to get her ball from underneath the bed.

Been so long

Hi all. Its been so long since I last posted. I've been quite busy and haven't had the time to share my dog stories with you all.

"Frisbee" is the magic word. When I say "frisbee," Daisy knows its time to play with the frisbee. She knows the general direction I will throw the frisbee and runs as I throw it towards her. She'll jump high to catch it and it's great watching her leap into the air.

Our frisbee time is always right after I finish eating dinner. The sun isn't so hot and the temperature is just right. She usually starts whining and judging my elbow with her nose trying to tell me "its time to go out now and play frisbee."

As for the frisbee that I use, the one I got is from petsmart and is made of a cloth with plastic ends. I used to use a regular frisbee but noticed that sometimes, her gums would get hurt from the spinning round plastic frisbee.

Christmas is over

So this past Christmas was a blast for Daisy. Why? Because after all the frustration of shopping around the mall and various stores of not being able to find a nice doggy outfit, my mom decided to knit one herself. We did a couple fittings on Daisy and she loves it. My mom chose girly colors to match Daisy's awesome coat color.

This picture above shows the button that goes around her neck. It also has a collar that is knitted to the whole piece. If you look carefully, you can see the layer right along the green stripe.

This is the button that goes around her waist.

Here is the whole outfit. Perfectly made to fit our healthy 65lb Daisy. She went on a diet beucase our vet told us 69lb was a bit over weight for her age.

Here is Daisy happily wearing her new winter outfit. She doesn't wear it outdoors :)

Daisy's Chair

Daisy has a favorite chair. As the midsize golden retriever she is, we do let her on the home furniture since she doesn't take up a whole lot of space. However, she doesn't go on the furniture much. She prefers the cold foyer, bathroom or kitchen floor. Also, she enjoys her favorite chair in my office.

The chair has two purposes. One purpose is the obvious. She likes to sit and lay in it. It's quite the comfortable chair. It's fairly low to the ground and very relaxing (naturally, it came from IKEA). The second purpose is she stores all her toys underneath behind the chair. When its time for her to play with her toys, she'll go down in from the side and start chewing on her toys!

Some Historical Blogs

This blog was a blog I wrote in the past a few months we got Daisy. It was written on

March 8 of 2006:

Daisy is losing her baby teeth. So far, she's lost and grew in about 4-5 teeth as i can keep track of. All this has happened within the past few weeks.

We also took her to the vet (dog doctor) today and she got her rabies shot. We also checked her weight. She currently weighs 28 pounds.

March 20, 2006:
We checked Daisy's weight today. She weighs 33 lbs. She's getting heavy. Nain always carries Daisy to bed at night but lately, Nain is having a hard time carrying Daisy because she's getting heavy. I wonder how Nain is going to take Daisy to bed when Daisy reaches 80lbs?

Today, Nagi and I picked up Nain at school. We took Daisy with us. Daisy wrapped the leash around Nagi's neck as she climbed over and around the seat leaving a red brush burn mark on Nagi's neck. OUCH!

Well, you can imagine what happened to Daisy from that point.

March 20, 2006:
Ok. we came home at 10:00 pm from Cold stone creamery and had a take out from Best food in town chinese restaurant. When we came home, dad and i ate chicken wings. We gave Daisy an ice cube. later, when nagi, nain and i went upstairs, we found a huge chunk of Daisy's crap right where i sit in front of the bed!

Everything was fair.. Daisy and I ate. Then I assume she got mad becuase i was eating more and tried to get her revenge by pooping in my bedroom. It smelled so bad i almost threw up my chicken wings. I beat her, I yelled at her, and I beat her.

Ofcourse she knew she did bad. hehe... I won....

.. but i'm still pissed off

March 31, 2006:
Daisy can now lay down when we tell her to lay down.

April 2, of 2006:
we are training daisy simple math. when we tap the ground once and say "one" daisy taps her paw one time. then we do "two" and tap the ground and daisy taps her paw two times.

I saw on the Discovery Channel that dogs understand simple math such as the one we are doing becuase of their wolf ancestors. Wolves are always traveling in packs so the alpha male knows how to count how many are in their pack. Therefore, they can do simple math.

Lastly, Daisy is now weighs 37 pounds.

April 25, 2006:
daisy weighs 45 lbs. actually she weighs 46.5 lbs.

she is getting smarter too. she knows a lot. not just in regards to verbal commands but also what her responsibilities and certain rules of the home. For example, she knows she's not allowed into the street.

We recently got our fence up. now we have to fix the lawn and after that is done, we will be able to let daisy outside in the back yard. unfortunately i dont have a picture of our fence i can put on this blog.

May 4, 2006:
The past weekend, we tried an experiment. We kept both Nain's bedroom door and our bedrrom door open for when we went to bed to see where Daisy would go. Normally, Daisy always sleeps in Nain's room without choice. Now that the doors were open, we wanted to see what Daisy would do.

Daisy slept on our bed next to me, back to back. The first night, i was really conscious about trying NOT to roll over her. Thus, i didn't sleep well. The 2nd night, Daisy slept next to me again but this time, i didn't care about if i were to roll over her, throw my arm on top of her, etc.

I slept well.

Nail Clipping

So normally, I would write an entry about an event that happened in the past two years but yesterday there was an event that's worth writing about. My wife and sister were clipping Daisy's nails. When they got the the back left paw, she clipped it a bit short and it bled. The blood was gushing out so fast and so much my wife fell into a panic attack. I called the vet and they recommended to tempoarily use flour if we didn't have any Quick Stop (a powder used to stop nail bleeding). Then we packed pressure on it to help stop the bleeding as well as wrapped it up with a gauze.

About 4 hours later, the bleeding didn't stop beucase Daisy is a very active dog and her blood pressure kept pumping out the blood. Around 1:00 a.m., my sister and I took Daisy to the emergency care vet to have her checked on. They added Quick Stop and bandaged up her paw. They also mentioned that she'll be fine and to take off the bandage off by Tuesday.

Daisy's Name

Let's see. What were the different names we thought of for my Golden Retriever. We thought of many names. More than I can remember but our top three names that we came to a conclusion on were:

• Daphne
• Cookie
• Daisy

As the days went on, we ended up liking the name Daisy the most. We had not thought of it to be a common name for a dog but I guess it is fairly common. The cool thing is that our street name is Daphne and the cross street to our street is Daisy. We were tempted to do Daphne but thought it might be a bit corny to have Daphne and live on Daphne Rd.

I'm sure every dog owner (at least most) go through the same long hours and days of thinking like we did for a name. Geez, it makes me wonder how long it took my parents to name me. Oh wait, they didn't. My grandmother did. LOL

The Golden Search Begins

So how did it all start? Let's start from the very beginning from how we searched, decided and found. It all started when I started going out with the woman who became my wife. When we were going out, she was always a dog lover. She had a history of having shitzus, cocker spaniels, and a few other breeds as she grew up. From the time we started dating, she always nagged me about wanting a dog. Although I was not too crazy about being a dog owner due to the responsibilites that came with it, I still liked dogs. We originally lived in an apartment so having a dog was out of the question til we bought a house.

The same year we bought our first house, my wife nagging skyrocketed and the search began. We laid down some criterias of the kind of dog we wanted to get. I told her, "If we get a dog, I want a big dog." She was ok with my criteria. As we looked around we came across Huskies, Labs, Bernise Mountain Dogs, and more. My first favorite picks were the Husky and the Bernise Mountain Dog. The next thing we did was look up the dogs' characteristics and none of those matched our life style. As we looked around more, we came to the conclusion that Golden Retriever would be the best overall dog for us.

Finding a price to fit our budget was the next issue. We heard horror stories from people all over that buying from a pet store is bad. We avoided the pet stores at all cost... and they were costly, about $1700 costly! We looked on the internet and newspapers for breeders. We found one for about $700, made the call and and appointment to see the dog in a couple days. Shortly after, my wife found a breeder located about an hour from us that was selling Golden Retrievers for $455 a pup! OMG what a deal! We immediatly called them and they told us they only have one left and it was a female. PERFECT! My wife wanted a female Golden Retriever. Finally, we decided to cancel the appointment for the $700 Golden Retriever and set way to see $455 Golden Retriever.

Intro to My Golden Retriever Entry

Hi. I'm Hirok and I'm here to share with you my stories of a very special golden retriever that came into my life I got 2 years ago. Before I start rambling on about my golden retriever, the reason I took this long to write it is because I simply wasn't into blogging that much. Although I did blog about it here and there on a different blog, I was not passionate about it as I am now. After two wonderful years I've had with my golden retriever (going on 3 this coming Christmas), I decided I want to share my stories with other dog lovers.